Systemic Innovation

2Science Fiction: A Strategic Approach for Innovative Organizations

2.1. Introduction

Science fiction is typically set in the future and involves imaginary worlds revolving around utopian technologies (Michaud 2008). Organizations and companies are increasingly tempted to create works of fiction, which they insert into their strategic discourse. Design fiction¹ and science fiction prototyping² are examples of methods to stimulate imagination and creativity at different levels of the innovation process. The impact of these representations on engineers is a managerial issue to be taken into account as science fiction becomes an important imaginary world of global capitalism. To begin with, a presentation of the historical context is important. Science fiction emerged in the early 19th Century with the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein (1818). Other texts, such as Voltaire’s Micromegas (1752), had preceded it, but Shelley’s novel is often cited as a starting point for this new genre. Frankenstein became a veritable myth in the rapidly expanding industrial society. Numerous works were later influenced by this story, exposing the risks of creations that could emanate from uncontrolled science. Science fiction is made up of different currents, but many works are devoted to a critique of negative uses of inventions that have fallen into the hands of unscrupulous people. The figure of the mad scientist thus appears in many stories, dealing with multiple and varied aspects ...